Saturday, 31 December 2016

REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2016

We hope readers had an
enjoyable Christmas, so on the eve of New Year, with the workshops
closed, here is a summary of the year 2016:

A total of seven
vehicles have entered traffic this year, following either major
restoration or light overhaul, which significantly tops 2015's total
of five such vehicles. Pleasing to note is that three of the projects
completed were long term major overhauls which should now last for
many years to come. The first major overhaul to be completed was
Suburban Third W46139, which entered service in March for the Spring
Steam Gala and marked the half way point in completing the four coach
Suburban Mark 1 set.

Just one month later,
M&GN Tool Van No12, the oldest operational vehicle on the
railway, was returned to service after being used for static duties
only for a time whilst waiting for wheel flats to be remedied. The
van had received a cosmetic overhaul and repaint whilst it was in for
repairs as well.

A second brakevan, the
LMS example, followed M&GN 12 in having repainting works, as it
had become rather flaky in recent years. The cosmetic work was
undertaken entirely at Holt in the open, making use of the sunnier
weather than summer offers, and it reentered service during August.

Also in August, the
third Suburban, TLO E48001, reached the end of a 5 year overhaul and
entered service for the Steam Gala, boosting the Suburban set to
three vehicles and giving a tantalising indication of what the full
set will look like.

Early September saw the
power car of the National Railway Museum's DMU set, M51192, released
from the workshops after receiving bodywork repairs and a full
repaint. The interior and mechanics required no work, however the
paintwork and roof badly required attention so it was slotted into
the programme at short notice.

The third and final
“super overhaul” to reach its end this year was TSO E4641 in
November. This coach had been in for two years and had received the
full works both ionside and out, the first time it had been properly
overhauled in its preservation life. It was out shopped in the same
livery as the dining train so that it can substitute for dining
vehicles if required to.

Just when the year was
nearly out in December, a third Freight vehicle was completed having
had a full repaint. Fuel Oil tanker 53083, which had never received
any attention since arriving at the railway many years ago, was
restored complete with Carless branding, representing the flow which
has run from nearly North Walsham using such vehicles in the past. It
is interesting that both the newest wagon on the railway (53083) and
the oldest (M&GN 12) have both been treated this year.

Vehicles in the
workshops which received a lot of major restoration work during the
year but aren’t yet finished include Mark 1 Suburban E43041, a
replacement underframe for M&GN number 129 and Great Eastern
Railway Brake Third 853.

We also got up to
plenty of smaller projects over the year. During January, ballast
hopper wagon HW426 re-entered service after several years out of use,
dispensing ballast as part of the relaying of track within Weybourne
station. We also had carriage axles tested for cracks ultrasonically
for the first time as part of the preparations for registering some
of the fleet to run on Network Rail's metals to Cromer.

February saw us
readying the operational coaching stock for the season ahead, which
was complicated after major vacuum failures were found on two of the
coaches. Three vehicles also had their couplings swapped to allow the
correct ones to be fitted for Cromer running.

March was spent almost
solely progressing the long term rebuilding projects.

During April, the
interior of vintage coach 853 reached a milestone when all of the
internal bulkheads were completed returning the vehicle to its
original layout for the first time since it became a grounded body.
Dining coach M3116 was also re-carpeted.

May saw the Wisbech and
Upwell tramcar receive some modifications to its bufferbeams and some
seat strengthening. Dining car M3116 had its seating reupholstered
and looked stunning. We also readied the new nameplates for Black
Prince!

During June a strategic
spare wheelset for a B4 bogie was restored and stored ready for when
one of these unusual wheels currently in service requires repairs or
replacement. The Quad Art set was also prepared for its week in daily
service.

A sigh of relief came
in July when the four dining coaches received their acceptance to
operate to Cromer, which cleared our side of the huge preparations
required for this event.

We had to say farewell
to stalwart volunteer Ken Barker during August, who had decided to
retire from working on the vintage coaches. We broke new ground for
the railway when the dining train operated from Sheringham to Cromer
on Network Rail infrastructure.

During September the
replacement underframe for M&GN 129 became a “rolling chassis”
for the first time following the fitting of the wheels. The “Fruit
D” van had to come in for emergency repairs following a broken
spring, and it also had its wheels turned whilst it was with us. The
department also hosted the annual Carriage Convention event. The
weekend saw a party of delegates from Carriage & Wagon
departments from all round the UK gather for knowledge sharing and
presentations before being showcased the NNR's collection of
interesting rolling stock.

In October, LNER Pigeon
Van 6843 came in for its wheel flats to be eliminated and for a
general freshen up. A station bench for Weybourne was also
cosmetically restored.

The department was
improved significantly during November when the new mezzanine floor
was erected, which will solve many storage problems which have been
building up over several years. The M&GN Society's Austin K2
lorry was refurbished and repainted into M&GN colours. Suburban
Brake E43357 had some modifications to its guard's steps to enable
easier access. Volunteers also assisted in the painting of the WD
locomotive's tender during this period.

Finally, December saw
the other half of the DMU, M56352, come in for a freshen up so that
it maches its partner which was similarly treated during the summer.

So it would seem that 2016 has been even more action packed than 2015. The Blog also celebrates its second birthday, as it was New Year 2015 that it was launched to provide free information and updates of the department to anyone interested. The pages have received 75,100 visits to date, so thanks to you, the readers, for coming back and making the effort of producing them worth it. See you in 2017!